Bittersweet
by AlyxxTheGreat
Summary: Marshall Lee and Prince Gumball have always been enemies- but has something changed...?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So this is my first fan fiction, it's not that great, but I hope you enjoy it anyways! This takes place right after the episode "Adventure Time with Fionna and Cake."**

**Pairing: Marshall Lee x Prince Gumball**

**Warning: yaoi, boyxboy**

Chapter 1

The ball ended abruptly after the Ice Queen incident, leaving the guests disgruntled and Prince Gumball soaking wet. He was glad that Fionna was over him, because truthfully, as much as he enjoyed her company, he just didn't like her in "that way." Prince Gumball wrung out his clothes as best as he could and trekked downstairs to the ballroom, only to find his least favorite person floating over the punch bowl. Yes, floating. Marshall Lee was a vampire; it was his favorite method of travel.

"Marshall Lee, get out of my castle!" screeched Gumball, trying to look menacing. Well, as menacing as a five-foot-five pink-clad candy prince could look.

"What's the matter, Gayball? Can't I have a taste?" The vampire king dunked his mouth into the bowl and sucked the red out of the punch bowl, leaving a sludgy grey mess. Marshall cackled and floated upstairs.

"Guards!" yelled PG. Two uniformed donut men marched swiftly upstairs in search of the vampire. Gumball, relieved, walked back to his bedroom in hope of some sleep, but was greeted with a surprise.

"Boo," said Marshall, appearing upside down just inches from Prince Gumball's face. The prince screamed despite himself, and jumped backward in fright and disgust.

"G-g-guar-" Gumball stammered, but was cut short when the vampire king clamped a hand over Gumball's mouth. Marshall slowly flipped right-side-up, grinning from ear to pointed ear.

"Cat got your tongue?" the vampire inquired in a silky voice. He leaned in closer towards Gumball, making him blush an even deeper shade of magenta. Gumball tried to avoid eye contact as Marshall Lee pushed him against the wall and kissed him lightly on the nose.

"Ha-ha. I knew it," said Marshall with a smirk

"Kn-knew what?" wondered PG, still in shock.

"If you were straight, you would have punched me by now," said the vampire with a fanged grin.

"You-!" shrieked Prince Gumball as he tried to attack the undead king, but he was too fast. He had already floated out of the window by the time the donut guards barged into the bedroom.

"It's alright, he's already gone," sighed Gumball, flopping back on his bed. What had just happened? His face was still hot, and he tried desperately to control his embarrassment. Tired and confused, the young prince changed into his pajamas and drifted into a troubled sleep.

~O~

Marshall Lee the Vampire King was extremely satisfied with his work. He loved embarrassing Prince Gumball; it was his second favorite pastime. The first was definitely singing and jamming on his axe bass.

As he floated home, Marshall pictured that nervous look on Gumball's face after being kissed. He smirked at the memory, loving the way the prince's pink cheeks turned even redder. It was kind of cute.

Wait- cute? What? He was a bloodsucking VAMPIRE, for glob's sake. Marshall didn't believe in _cute_. He liked Gumball, but only for the purpose of teasing him. The candy prince was just so… _pink_. Annoyingly, sickeningly pink. But at the same time, sort of adorable.

_Dammit, Marshall, think straight! _he thought angrily. It didn't bother him that he thought another guy was cute- Marshall was 1000 years old, too old to care anymore- however, it did bother him that the guy just so happened to be made of bubblegum.

_It's just hormones. You don't like him_, Marshall told himself, but as he entered the woods surrounding his house, he realized it wasn't the truth.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Here's Chapter 2 for those of you who actually care! Sorry about Chapter 1, please forgive my noobness. The section spacer didn't show up. *sigh* Also I originally titled the ENTIRE STORY "Bittersweet Chapter 1." I am retarded.**

Just before Marshall Lee reached his house, the musings about his newfound crush were interrupted when an acrid smell reached his nostrils. _Smoke, _he thought. Curling plumes of the stuff were rising through the trees. The vampire hurriedly floated toward his house- only to find most of it slightly smoldering, ready to cave in at any time.

"What the glob!" he exclaimed. His bedroom was now a charred mess of ash and unrecognizable furniture. Marshall had this sickening feeling in his gut sack that he knew who was responsible for the fire. He flew to the side of the house and realized that his suspicions were correct.

Sitting on the doorstep was a middle-aged woman with a widow's peak in her sleek ebony hair, cradling a martini glass between her ridiculously long red fingernails.

"I knew it was you! Why the math did you burn down my house, Mom?" The woman smiled, revealing two long, dagger-sharp fangs.

"Well, technically, it's still _my _house," she drawled, "and _technically,_ I only burned down part of it." Marshall's mother lazily stirred her martini with a red claw.

"I don't care. WHY did you do it?" Marshall snarled, eyes glowing red.

"Your room was dirty. If you want to stay in MY house, you should keep it clean," she replied nonchalantly, downing the rest of her drink.

"You can't just burn down houses because they're DIRTY!" snarled Marshall Lee, morphing into a huge black monster with tentacles.

"Fine, fine. I get it. You hate me and want me out of your life. I'll go. Have fun rebuilding the house, darling!" cackled the vampire woman. She stood up and promptly swayed on her feet- obviously tipsy- then morphed into a bat and soared away. Marshall swore at the sky. Now where would he sleep?

~O~

Prince Gumball's slumber was interrupted when he felt an icy cold presence behind him. He flipped onto his other side and was horrified to see a familiar figure sleeping next to him. The prince leapt off of the bed and stared incredulously at the black clad figure snuggled in his own comforter.

"Marshall Lee!" he screeched, waking the vampire king. "WHY are you in my BED?!" Marshall blinked sleepily and stretched his arms over his head.

"Oh, long story. House burned down. Parent troubles. Thought I'd just crash here." He turned over and took in Gumball's attire. "Hey, you kept that shirt I got you."

The candy prince blushed furiously and attempted to cover the black T-shirt depicting Marshall's favorite rock band.

"I-it's just pajamas," PG stuttered.

"Yeah, whatever. Can I sleep here or not? I'm tired."

"S-s-sure, just… don't try anything funny," Gumball replied. He crawled back into bed and forced his eyes shut, when suddenly, his undead companion began to bounce up and down on the plush mattress.

"Whoa, this bed is super fluffy! What's it made out of? Cotton candy?" Prince Gumball tried not to scream at him as Marshall continued bouncing, when—

_Rrrrrriiiipppp. _"Oh, nope. It's marshmallows. Yum." A few smacking noises proceeded.

"GET. OUT. OF. MY. CASTLE!" bellowed the pink prince, leaping up from the bed and shoving Marshall Lee towards the window. "You are NEVER allowed inside AGAIN."

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving. Might wanna sew up that hole in your sheets, though," said Marshall with a shrug. He shape-shifted into a raven and flew out of the open window.

_I should really start closing my balcony windows, _thought Prince Gumball. But a part of him almost… didn't want to.

~O~

Marshall was pissed because he got kicked out of the candy castle, but it was his own fault, really. He was actually sort of happy. After all, Gumball was pretty hot when he was angry.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: So I've been sick, and lost my original file for this chapter, and visiting family, so I hope you can understand the lateness of Chapter 3! Please don't hurt me! (Gabriel, this one's for you. You're wonderful. Thanks for all the encouragement.)**

Marshall Lee awoke with his cheek pressed to the cold tile of his kitchen floor. It was the only room that wasn't under risk of collapsing from the fire. He blinked groggily, stretched, and forced himself into a hovering position. He craned his neck to see the wall clock around his cabinet and groaned in surprise.

"3 PM?! How long was I out?" Marshall ran a claw-tipped hand through his mop of unruly black hair in an attempt to look presentable. He had forgotten all about his promise to attend Fionna and Cake's movie marathon today. It had started half an hour ago. He pulled on some sneakers and a clean grey flannel and glided in a less-than-graceful manner out of the window and towards the outskirts of the Candy Kingdom where his hero friend resided. _I wonder if Gumball will be there, _Marshall thought, and mentally slapped himself for thinking about the adorable candy prince.

When the vampire king arrived at the tree house and knocked at the door, he was greeted with a frenzy of accusations and insults as to why he was late.

"Marshall! Glad you FINALLY made it," teased Fionna with a grin. She was seated on the floor in front of Beemo's screen with her legs crossed.

"Hey, bloodsucker boy. Thought you might have done the world a favor and jumped off a cliff," jibed Cake, who was curled up next to Fionna. The room was filled with various friends, species and princes, including Lumpy Space Prince, who was noisily tucking into a can of baked beans.

"Sorry, but vampires don't die," smirked Marshall, floating over to the battered green sofa, far away from the sloppy purple prince. "So what movies are we watching?"

"The whole Heat Signature series," someone muttered from the sofa. "We've just started the first one."

"Oh, hey, Gumball. Didn't see you there," replied Marshall. His candy crush was trying his hardest not to look at Marshall and blushing a brilliant shade of fuchsia. Just to annoy him even more, the vampire sat down right next to Prince Gumball as the movie began to play again. The film was suspenseful and riveting, but Marshall Lee couldn't concentrate on it with the pink prince so close to him. He pretended to look interested through the first and second movies; pretended not to notice how terrified Gumball looked every time something scary happened. He pretended to ignore how much he wanted to comfort him; hold his hand- something.

Marshall wrapped a clawed pinky finger over Prince Gumball's and looked away, blushing. It was the next-best thing to hand holding, he decided. Neither one pulled away, which brought a small smile to Marshall's lips. Either Gumball didn't notice, or the feelings were returned. He hoped it was the latter.

~O~

Prince Gumball was scared. Well, a little more than scared- horrified, terrified, and scarred for life were better terms to describe his feelings. How could people watch these scary movies? What was entertaining about suspense leading up to the inevitable death of all the main characters? He couldn't appear weak in front of Marshall, though. _Stay strong_, he thought. _Only a few more movies and it'll all be over._

Suddenly, when he thought he'd explode from the constant terror, he felt a cold yet comforting touch on his pinky finger. His eyes traveled downward to find a grey finger was wrapped around his own. Gumball looked away quickly to hide his flushed cheeks and the sudden grin that wouldn't seem to go away. He'd enjoy this while it lasted.

~O~

"FIVE. Five flipping movies. It's the same thing over and over again! Why make FIVE when they're all the same as the first one?" fumed Fionna exasperatedly after the last film was over.

"Whatever. I had fun, like, laughing at all your stupid faces. Everyone was all like, 'Oh my glob! What was that?' Y'all are scaredy-cats," declared Lumpy Space Prince. Everyone was slowly getting to their feet and stretching. The marathon had extended into the late hours of the night, leaving many people's limbs quite sore.

"Well, good night, everyone. Hope you had a good time even though you just watched the SAME THING _FIVE_ different times," Fionna reiterated.

"Alright, calm down, baby. You can send all the hate mail you'd like to the writers tomorrow morning," Cake comforted, placing an arm around her human friend. Everybody flooded out of the tree house's front door, saying their goodbyes. Marshall Lee made to fly back to his house, only to realize he'd have to sleep on the kitchen floor again, which wasn't the most comfortable arrangement. He awkwardly approached Prince Gumball and mumbled,

"You know, I-uh- still need a place to sleep, so I was wondering if… you know…"

"Sure. Yeah, you can sleep at my place," offered the candy prince with a shy smile. Marshall gratefully floated after Gumball towards the Candy Kingdom, making small talk along the way. When they were both settled in the prince's bed, Marshall, after some consideration, placed his arm over Gumball's side. Neither male objected.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: I expected to finish this a lot earlier than I did. I blame it on my disorder. It's called CLD, or Chronic Laziness Disorder. The symptoms are drowsiness, lethargy, and lack of motivation. Also, I know nothing about building and houses, so if you do, please criticize so I can change stuff. In other news, I finally made it past 1000 words! High fives and cookies for the fabulous author! (I hate when fics say "Sorry there's only 2000 words." I'm lucky if I make it to 800.)**

Prince Gumball woke up to the beeping of his alarm at 6 AM. To his surprise, Marshall Lee was already gone. He had expected the vampire to be a late sleeper. The prince rolled out of bed and trudged to the bathroom, where someone had left a note on the pink marble counter.

_"Got up extra early so I wouldn't bug you. Ate the red out of your bathrobe for breakfast. Sorry. -ML"_ Prince Gumball smiled at the sloppily scrawled note and looked over at his previously magenta bathrobe that was now stark white. He took off the T-shirt Marshall had given him and stepped into the shower, pondering the events of the night before. The vampire had said something about his house being burned down… Maybe he should help? Gumball immediately rejected the idea. He knew nothing about construction, and had the upper body strength of a child. That would be useless. But maybe he could use his knowledge of physics to tell Marshall where to put the pieces…?

As soon as he got out of the shower and put on his bleached-out bathrobe, he began to draw a floor plan of the house. He worked for about an hour figuring out the best place to rebuild, even adding a few extra nooks and crannies. It was worth it for Marshall. At 8:00, Prince Gumball put on a shirt, a pair of pink overalls and some purple work boots and set out to show Marshall his design. He reached the outskirts of Aaa just in time, as the vampire king was currently using a large mallet to hack carelessly at a charred wall that was sure to crush the rest of the house when it fell.

"Hey! Stop, you're going to ruin everything!" Gumball shouted. "Break the back wall first." Marshall Lee looked over in surprise. He was wearing scuffed black boots and a pair of washed-out denim overalls, a floppy sun hat shading his grey skin from the sun. The candy prince stifled a gasp at Marshall's lack of a shirt. His muscled arms were on full view, evoking a blush from Prince Gumball.

"Oh, hey, PG. What're you doing here?" inquired the vampire, threading a gloved hand through his hair. His tangled black spikes were drooping over his forehead, wilted by the heavy hat.

"I, uh, brought some designs you can use for your house." Gumball walked toward Marshall and thrust some rolled-up blueprints at him, avoiding eye contact. Why did he have to be so lumpin' _attractive_?

"Alright. I guess you know more about this than me, so just tell me where to start doing my thing." The vampire smirked good-naturedly as he scanned over the blueprints.

"Seriously? You're over a thousand years old, and yet you have absolutely knowledge of basic physics?"

"I'm not into all that. Besides, you don't have to know any physics junk to build stuff."

"Well, you just proved yourself wrong by almost collapsing the rest of your house."

"Okay, you got me there. Now PLEASE help me," Marshall Lee pouted.

Prince Gumball grinned and began to advise the vampire, gesturing to the designs and the blackened house. Marshall just nodded, occasionally making a teasing remark or two. After a few minutes, the vampire king went back to hacking- in the RIGHT places this time. Gumball just sat back and watched the display, pretending to add to his designs. If anyone had looked over his shoulder at that moment, they would have seen a rather skilled pencil sketch of Marshall Lee shirtless on the back of a blueprint.

~O~

It was that very day that Marshall realized that his adorable prince was smarter than him. Well, he knew Gumball was into all that nerdy science stuff, but he didn't think it could actually apply to real life. It made the vampire a bit proud, knowing that his crush had his own hidden strengths. So he didn't object when Prince Gumball set him to work, giving him orders left and right.

As the day continued, Marshall was becoming uncomfortably warm under the midday sun. He was exhausted; his formerly ice-cold skin heating up to room temperature. The house was now nothing more than a skeleton with a kitchen built in. The frame of the house had, for the most part, survived the fire, so the demolition wasn't as extensive as expected. However, Marshall's muscles were simply too tired to actually start rebuilding. It could wait until tomorrow. The designer of the project had nodded off on a tree stump, beads of sweat forming on his brow, and the carpenter was slumped over on a log, head in hands. Marshall didn't really want to move, but he forced his aching body to stand and walk over to Prince Gumball, poking him in the forehead with the end of his mallet.

"Nnh- wha?" murmured the candy prince groggily, lifting his head ever so slightly.

"C'mon, Sleeping Beauty. Check out my work."

Prince Gumball stared at the house's skeleton before giving the vampire a small grin.

"You did well, Prince Charming."

If Marshall's blood was still flowing, he would have blushed. A lot. As the candy prince stood up, Marshall noticed that he turned a violent shade of scarlet as he quickly turned his back and gathered up his papers, avoiding eye contact with him. The vampire rolled his eyes at this and wondered what PG had to hide.

"So, I guess we should get going back to my place, right…?" Prince Gumball's voice trailed off as he whirled around to stare at Marshall Lee, who had snuck up right behind him, a small smirk on his cold, grey lips. It was just too easy to surprise the pink royal. For a moment or two, they simply stared, one in surprise and the other in intrigue. Then, suddenly, the distance between their faces was closed.

~O~

Neither male was completely sure who kissed who first, but in the blink of an eye there were lips on lips, pink on grey, and blueprints on the floor. A forked tongue slipped into a rose-colored mouth and discovered that it did, indeed, taste of bubblegum. A taste that the king had once found sickeningly sweet, it was surprisingly pleasant. Prince Gumball tilted his head back, wrapped his arms around the other's neck, and let Marshall explore his mouth, sinking into the cool hands of his lover.

The vampire, as Gumball soon realized, tasted bitter- like the peel of an orange. However, as distasteful as it may seem, it was an intriguing flavor, and the prince relished every second of it. He eventually pulled away, gasping for air like a fish out of water. Prince Gumball didn't realize he hadn't been breathing; he was so caught up in his ecstasy.

Marshall groaned inwardly. He had forgotten that the prince, unlike him, actually needed to breathe. But as he looked into the hopeful amethyst eyes of his prince, he realized that all was forgiven, and all they wanted was more. Their lips met again, crushing against one another passionately. Marshall placed his hand on the small of Prince Gumball's back and leaned forwards, gaining complete control over the candy prince. The vampire's hat lurched to the ground and his skin began to sizzle, but he didn't care.

Gumball loved the feeling of helplessness, knowing that Marshall could drop him at any second, but trusted that he wouldn't. He threaded his pink fingers through Marshall's hair and let out a soft moan. The vampire's tangled locks were matted with dirt, but he didn't care a bit. He only cared about the deathly cold lips sliding over his warm ones that were gone all too soon.

"I think I'll stay here for a while. You can go back to the castle," exhaled Marshall Lee, stooping down to retrieve the fallen sun hat. As much as he wanted the kiss to continue, he knew it had to end sometime.

"S-sure, okay," murmured Prince Gumball before dropping to his knees to gather the fallen blueprints. Marshall gazed awkwardly at the candy prince for a moment before pecking him lightly on the cheek and waving goodbye. The only thought that ran through both of their heads at that moment was:

_What the hell just happened?_


End file.
